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grrr22's review against another edition
5.0
I heard about this book on Twitter and it sounded so interesting that I purchased it on Amazon Audible. I couldn't believe that the story had basically five stars and I went into it skeptical. I wasn't disappointed. This story is a master class on the human body. I learned so many interesting things about something I already thought I knew a lot about. The story picks up steam in the middle and latter chapters and I was just really happy that I spent the time reading The Story of the Human Body. Great read.
princesspersephone's review against another edition
5.0
This is hands down one of the best books I have EVER read.
It was first recommended to me by a highly respected individual in the fitness industry who owns and runs his own spine clinic as well as teaches science based fitness workshops across the country. Unexpectedly my "Genetic and Evolutionary Principles of Health" class had it as assigned reading (for obvious reasons) and not only did I get to finally read this amazing book, but also participate in in-depth discussions about the ideas presented.
Daniel Lieberman is a master at coherently guiding the readers through this sometimes dense material. The beginning focuses on what evolution is and how evolution has influenced the development of our species. It takes a more anthropological view at first, going through our ancient ancestors and why certain adaptations were naturally selected for (the answer is almost always 'Climate Change'). From there he talks about both the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution and how that has changes the way evolution impacts our bodies, lives and communities. Lastly, he takes a more medical approach talking about our modern society and the "mismatch diseases" that have arises due to our poorly adapted bodies in these rapidly changing environments.
From back pain, plantar fasciitis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, allergies, running injuries, osteoporosis, obesity, and more...he talks about it all! I have been eager to find a book to recommend to my personal training clients so they can understand their bodies and the dysfunction that arises because of their modern behavior, and this hit the nail on the head. He literally pulled the words right out of my mouth and I often found myself reading later chapters and thinking "Thats exactly what I was telling so and so last week!!". He is no alarmist with how we as a society approach our "mismatch diseases". Instead he explains the science behind it all in easy to follow sections. He gives just enough information for you to understand the complexity of the interactions, but holds off on enough scientific jargon that the average reader would easily find their way through. Only the last chapter is dedicated to the "Okay, so now what?" feeling most people have about our current healthcare environment. Even there he presents rational arguments and predicts your line of reasoning to help guide you to his primary message. That we as a society need to start thinking of our healthcare, governments, communities, and personal habits from an evolutionary perspective.
It was first recommended to me by a highly respected individual in the fitness industry who owns and runs his own spine clinic as well as teaches science based fitness workshops across the country. Unexpectedly my "Genetic and Evolutionary Principles of Health" class had it as assigned reading (for obvious reasons) and not only did I get to finally read this amazing book, but also participate in in-depth discussions about the ideas presented.
Daniel Lieberman is a master at coherently guiding the readers through this sometimes dense material. The beginning focuses on what evolution is and how evolution has influenced the development of our species. It takes a more anthropological view at first, going through our ancient ancestors and why certain adaptations were naturally selected for (the answer is almost always 'Climate Change'). From there he talks about both the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution and how that has changes the way evolution impacts our bodies, lives and communities. Lastly, he takes a more medical approach talking about our modern society and the "mismatch diseases" that have arises due to our poorly adapted bodies in these rapidly changing environments.
From back pain, plantar fasciitis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, allergies, running injuries, osteoporosis, obesity, and more...he talks about it all! I have been eager to find a book to recommend to my personal training clients so they can understand their bodies and the dysfunction that arises because of their modern behavior, and this hit the nail on the head. He literally pulled the words right out of my mouth and I often found myself reading later chapters and thinking "Thats exactly what I was telling so and so last week!!". He is no alarmist with how we as a society approach our "mismatch diseases". Instead he explains the science behind it all in easy to follow sections. He gives just enough information for you to understand the complexity of the interactions, but holds off on enough scientific jargon that the average reader would easily find their way through. Only the last chapter is dedicated to the "Okay, so now what?" feeling most people have about our current healthcare environment. Even there he presents rational arguments and predicts your line of reasoning to help guide you to his primary message. That we as a society need to start thinking of our healthcare, governments, communities, and personal habits from an evolutionary perspective.
cgriesemer's review against another edition
5.0
Just a fascinating book. Amazing how many issues we have introduced to humanity in such a short time.
saanaa's review against another edition
5.0
The Story of the Human Body is a book that should be read by every single person on earth. There is nothing more motivating towards exercise and health than the realisation of how much bad we are doing to ourselves by avoiding physical activity, and how wrong we are about the way we are living our lives. This book does that exactly. The impact our choices make on the ongoing evolution of humans is clearly portrayed in a way to emphasize the importance of change. Simply speaking, we will continue to get fatter, lazier and sicker if we don’t modify our daily activities to become more physically challenging, as well as fixing our diets to ones we can obtain actual nutrients from.
I deeply appreciated the insight of the first part of the book, chapters 2-6, due to the extensive explanation of the evolution of human race. There was so much I didn’t know that the book taught me, such as the existence of Homo Floresiensis – a dwarf version of Homo species living on island of Flores who were ‘driven by natural selection to become small-brained and small-statured in order to cope with lack of food’. The comprehensive descriptions of our species’ early evolution sheds a very bright light on why we are the way we are now, and why we keep getting worse. The epidemic of mismatch diseases in the last few generations is raising the mortality rate due to illnesses such as CVD and diabetes which could be prevented if we just changed the way we eat and how much physical activity we obtain during the day.
In this book, D. Lieberman talks about the comfort of our lives and how it has damaged our physical abilities and has limited our performances in many ways. Due to our acclimatization to convenience and luxury, we have lost – or are losing- many physical traits that have made our lives easier, but the lack of them may contribute to pain, and many mismatch diseases. This realization, if only it could become apparent, could reduce – or maybe even treat or prevent- a lot of pain that the majority of population is in.
This is an extremely eye-opening book, especially to anyone who has the slightest interest in the human body, evolution or health. But it would have a strong effect on anyone reading it, leaving the reader in a motivated state to improve their lives. If only this book was a mandatory read, I believe we would have a chance of living in a (somewhat) healthier world.
Despite being a scientific book, it is not a difficult read. I believe anyone with basic biology knowledge would have no trouble understanding the concept.
I deeply appreciated the insight of the first part of the book, chapters 2-6, due to the extensive explanation of the evolution of human race. There was so much I didn’t know that the book taught me, such as the existence of Homo Floresiensis – a dwarf version of Homo species living on island of Flores who were ‘driven by natural selection to become small-brained and small-statured in order to cope with lack of food’. The comprehensive descriptions of our species’ early evolution sheds a very bright light on why we are the way we are now, and why we keep getting worse. The epidemic of mismatch diseases in the last few generations is raising the mortality rate due to illnesses such as CVD and diabetes which could be prevented if we just changed the way we eat and how much physical activity we obtain during the day.
In this book, D. Lieberman talks about the comfort of our lives and how it has damaged our physical abilities and has limited our performances in many ways. Due to our acclimatization to convenience and luxury, we have lost – or are losing- many physical traits that have made our lives easier, but the lack of them may contribute to pain, and many mismatch diseases. This realization, if only it could become apparent, could reduce – or maybe even treat or prevent- a lot of pain that the majority of population is in.
This is an extremely eye-opening book, especially to anyone who has the slightest interest in the human body, evolution or health. But it would have a strong effect on anyone reading it, leaving the reader in a motivated state to improve their lives. If only this book was a mandatory read, I believe we would have a chance of living in a (somewhat) healthier world.
Despite being a scientific book, it is not a difficult read. I believe anyone with basic biology knowledge would have no trouble understanding the concept.
slnewman89's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not typically a huge fan of non-fiction books, but I read a review about this on NPR and thought it sounded really interesting. I learned a lot about how the human body functions and why we suffer from the ailments that we do today. I think for anyone interested in human evolution, this is a fascinating read.
shashankbk10's review against another edition
5.0
A very fascinating and a slightly unsettling book. The crux of the story is that we've changed our environment and lifestyle so drastically in the last few millennia that natural selection hasn't had enough time to adapt our bodies to this change, the result of which is widespread disease.
Can an evolutionary perspective on medical care help us better fight or prevent these diseases? The answer may be yes.
Can an evolutionary perspective on medical care help us better fight or prevent these diseases? The answer may be yes.
davidsteinsaltz's review against another edition
4.0
Not much that's new for people who follow evolutionary medicine, but well packaged, well written, and well structured. A good mix of skepticism and promise.
jenn756's review against another edition
5.0
Oh dear. I don’t exercise enough, I eat too much sugar and I’m generally a physical wreck. I’ll probably succumb to diabetes or heart disease when I’m older. According to Lieberman we’re living lives our bodies were not designed for, and sitting slumped in front of a computer all day just doesn’t cut it. The diseases that kill us today, the ones doctors cannot eradicate, are all evolutionary `mis-matches’.
Apparently our distant ancestors did not eat ice-cream or chicken tikka masala on a Friday night and had to forage for tough chewy roots under a sweltering hot sun. Their fruit was no sweeter than a turnip. They walked 8-9 miles a day. And now we’re paying the price for our poor diets and laziness.
Some of this is intuitive. My elderly mother for instance will tell you too much sugar causes diabetes, but Lieberman is very good at backing it up with compelling evidence. Some of it I hadn’t considered – breast cancer as an evolutionary mis-match - girls mature earlier than they have ever done, have fewer children and breast-feed their babies for a shorter time. Cumulatively this means more periods over a life time, and more oestrogen swilling round their bodies – excess of hormones being a trigger factor for cancer.
Lieberman is an engaging writer. And altogether this is an interesting and ultimately empowering book. My kids (who are lazy slobs) are beginning to curse his name as I keep quoting him at them. Get off your backsides and walk I say, otherwise you’ll contract osteoporosis. But do they listen to me? No!
He takes us through the different stages of human evolution to examine how each stage affected our physique and metabolism. There was the Austrolopiths 4-2 million years ago, upright and smaller brained than us and who walked miles in search of fruits and tubers. They had to survive in a semi-arid climate and their diet forced them to chew for hours and hours.
Then 1.9 million years ago Homo Erectus appears, much like us from the neck downwards. Meat appears on the menu 2.6 million years ago. Lieberman suggests hominids developed the techniques of endurance running to literally run prey to death, perhaps up 19 miles a day. Our ability to cool by sweating played a big part in this as hominids can tolerate hot sun in a way other mammals that have fur and pant can’t. Also our ability to retain fat was essential for maintaining energy reserves on a long hunt.
Another interesting twist in evolution was the relative size of guts to brains. Most mammals have large guts and small brains, Homo erectus reversed this be switching to higher quality diets and by manually processing food (apparently the Huns who also ate raw meat would soften it by putting it between their horses flanks!) Just as important was co-operating and sharing food and the role of extended family (which suggests mentally too we’re living lives evolution didn’t intended us for.)
500,000 years ago Hominids invented the pointed spear which revolutionised hunting. Then about 400,000 years ago came the control of fire. It was during the Ice Ages between 3 million and 500,000 years ago that the brain doubles in size. I suppose extreme environmental conditions provoked a strong evolutionary response. The brain takes a whopping 280-420 calories a day, and by comparing structure and size with other apes scientists have worked out that our brain size permits us to work with social networks of approx 100-230 people (which explains a lot when you think about it.) He seems to suggest that the primary reason for the development of the brain was co-operation, working together - not as you might assume the creation of tools. It was more man (or woman) the talker instead of man the handy man.
One fact that hit me is that everyone alive today descends from a population of fewer than 14,000 breeding individuals from sub-Saharan Africa. And the initial population that gave rise to all non-Africans was probably fewer than 3,000 people. We are genetically homogenous. Humans left Africa about 100,000 to 80,000 years ago. Then in the Upper Palaeolithic 50,000 years ago comes the tipping point – sophisticated tools and a technological revolution. People somehow think and behave differently from then onwards.
12,000 years ago comes the invention of farming
Apparently our distant ancestors did not eat ice-cream or chicken tikka masala on a Friday night and had to forage for tough chewy roots under a sweltering hot sun. Their fruit was no sweeter than a turnip. They walked 8-9 miles a day. And now we’re paying the price for our poor diets and laziness.
Some of this is intuitive. My elderly mother for instance will tell you too much sugar causes diabetes, but Lieberman is very good at backing it up with compelling evidence. Some of it I hadn’t considered – breast cancer as an evolutionary mis-match - girls mature earlier than they have ever done, have fewer children and breast-feed their babies for a shorter time. Cumulatively this means more periods over a life time, and more oestrogen swilling round their bodies – excess of hormones being a trigger factor for cancer.
Lieberman is an engaging writer. And altogether this is an interesting and ultimately empowering book. My kids (who are lazy slobs) are beginning to curse his name as I keep quoting him at them. Get off your backsides and walk I say, otherwise you’ll contract osteoporosis. But do they listen to me? No!
He takes us through the different stages of human evolution to examine how each stage affected our physique and metabolism. There was the Austrolopiths 4-2 million years ago, upright and smaller brained than us and who walked miles in search of fruits and tubers. They had to survive in a semi-arid climate and their diet forced them to chew for hours and hours.
Then 1.9 million years ago Homo Erectus appears, much like us from the neck downwards. Meat appears on the menu 2.6 million years ago. Lieberman suggests hominids developed the techniques of endurance running to literally run prey to death, perhaps up 19 miles a day. Our ability to cool by sweating played a big part in this as hominids can tolerate hot sun in a way other mammals that have fur and pant can’t. Also our ability to retain fat was essential for maintaining energy reserves on a long hunt.
Another interesting twist in evolution was the relative size of guts to brains. Most mammals have large guts and small brains, Homo erectus reversed this be switching to higher quality diets and by manually processing food (apparently the Huns who also ate raw meat would soften it by putting it between their horses flanks!) Just as important was co-operating and sharing food and the role of extended family (which suggests mentally too we’re living lives evolution didn’t intended us for.)
500,000 years ago Hominids invented the pointed spear which revolutionised hunting. Then about 400,000 years ago came the control of fire. It was during the Ice Ages between 3 million and 500,000 years ago that the brain doubles in size. I suppose extreme environmental conditions provoked a strong evolutionary response. The brain takes a whopping 280-420 calories a day, and by comparing structure and size with other apes scientists have worked out that our brain size permits us to work with social networks of approx 100-230 people (which explains a lot when you think about it.) He seems to suggest that the primary reason for the development of the brain was co-operation, working together - not as you might assume the creation of tools. It was more man (or woman) the talker instead of man the handy man.
One fact that hit me is that everyone alive today descends from a population of fewer than 14,000 breeding individuals from sub-Saharan Africa. And the initial population that gave rise to all non-Africans was probably fewer than 3,000 people. We are genetically homogenous. Humans left Africa about 100,000 to 80,000 years ago. Then in the Upper Palaeolithic 50,000 years ago comes the tipping point – sophisticated tools and a technological revolution. People somehow think and behave differently from then onwards.
12,000 years ago comes the invention of farming